Machine for impregnating fabrics with rubber.



I. S. IVIcGlEI-IAN.

MACHINE FOR IMPREGNATING' FABRICS WITH RUBBER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20' 1916.

Patented Feb. 5; 1918..

3 SHEETS-SHEET I WITNESSES:

- l. S. MCGIEHAN.

MACHINE FOR IMFREGNATING FABRICS WITH RUBBER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, I916.

Patented Feb. 5, 191 8.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 [IV VE IV TOR WITNESSES.

By @gfiMQ/w/O M35552 2 I. S. McGlEHAN.

MACHINE FOR IMPREGNATING FABRICS WITH RUBBER.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 191B.

WITNESSES. INVENTOR Qbfi/vv W I1 1 A TTORNEY ornate.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented T eb. 5,-ffi1ld.

firiginat application tiled December 1?, 1915, Serial No. 67,473. Divided and this application filed May m,

1916. fierial No. aaeet.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Isaac SEAMAN MoGmrnAN, a citizen of the United States, and residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Machine for lim- Specification. My invention relates to a machine for impregnating fabrics with rubber.

()ne purpose of my machine is to flex or bend the fibers of the material, whereby the interstices may be opened up in order to enable the rubber solution to find access to and impregnate all the parts of the fabric including the hollow tubular portions of the threads.

solution to fill any unoccupied spaces remaining at this stage of the process.

The apparatus consists of several closely associated mechanisms, all of which coiiperate in the performance of the aforesaid steps of the method.

The'first element of the machine, is the drier, over which the fabric passes prior to submergence in the vat containing the rubber solution;

The second element of the machine is the impregnating device, the essential parts of which are a vat for the rubber solution and the coacting fluted rollers and pinions throu h which the fabric runs and by means of which it is flexed or bent back and forth, in such a way, as to open up the interstices of the fibers for the reception of the rubber solution.

The third element of the machine, is a drier containing heating coils arranged in junta-position to the path of the guided sheet of impregnated fabric.

The fourth element of the machine, is that which coats the'impregnated fabric, this part consisting, essentially, of rolls for sustaining and guiding the fabric, a heater and a rubber scraper, operating to level and smooth the coating as it is applied to the fabric.

The fifth element of the machine contains compression rollers, the faces of which are covered with soft vulcanized rubber, Which acts to convey pressure to the semi-vulcanized rubber lying in. the spaces between the fibers, without at the same time crushing the fibers of the threads at their points of intersection, this crushing of the fibers, Where the warp and weft strands of the fabric cross each other being the difficulty experienced when rollers having unyielding faces, are employed for the purpose of compressing frictioned or coated fabrics.

The several parts of the machine are connected with a common driving means, the object being to attain synchronism in all the movable elements, so that all parts of the fabric will have the same speed and not have any tendency to slip over the surface of the movable elements.

I have found that in handling rubber coated fabrics, frictional or static electricity is often produced in such quantities as to cause ignition of the volatile solvents and the tendency to do this is more pronounced in the coating mechanism than anywhere else. Here the knife or steel scraper, usually employed for leveling the applied rubber coating, becomes so highly charged as to produce sparks which may ignite the as yet tin-evaporated solvent that is present in the rubber. 'lBy substituting a rubber scraper for a steel scraper and by arranging all movable parts of the machine in such a Way as to avoid friction, I produce no statical electricity whatever, and render the manufacture of rubber impregnated and coated fabrics entirely safe.

The fabric employed by me is one which contains threads composed of twisted strands and is preferably of the open mesh variety, the object being to afford room within the body of the fabric, that is to say, within its interstices both inside and outside of the threads. for containing a relatively large body of rubber, which is in eflect, a continua- 25 uncoated, runs. This cylinder 1 is driven by tion of the coating) of rubber that superimposed upon the ody of the fabric. hl inclosed art of the rubber being mterlocked with the material ortion of the fabric, is securely anchore to the fabric, thereby giving the whole fabrlcation a strength which it would not otherw1se possess.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, the mechanical part of my inventlon is fully lllUlS- trated with similar numbers to indicate corresponding parts as follows:

Figure 1 1s a side elevation of my entlre machine and Fig. 2 is a plan v1ew thereof.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the impregmating mechanisms showing the details thereof, and Fig. 4 is a plan view thereof.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the coating and the compressing devices and F 1g. 6 1s a. front elevation of the compressing mechamsm.

A (Fig. 1 is a preliminary driercontaining a heating cylinder 1, over which a. strip of fabric, as yet unlmpregnated and the main shaft X of the machine through a worm and gear connection 2 and a pulley and belt connection 3.

The impregnating machine 13 consists of a vat 12, having mounted therein, a fluted roller 13 (Fig. 3) that is driven by a. sprocket. wheel 14, connected by a pulley and .belt connection 15 (Fig. 1) and a worm and gear connection 16 to the driving shaft X. The pinions or idlers, 17, are driven by the fluted roller 13. The cover of the vat has openings or slits for the passage of the fabric into and out of the machine and between these two slits the fabric extends sinuously between the flutes of the roller 13 and the teeth of the pinions or idlers 17. It will be observed that when the fluted rollers andpinionsor idlers are rotating, these sinuous parts of the fabric will be bent back and forth over the respective flutes and teeth,

tremely small capillary ducts of the kind found in rubber coated textile fabrics. When, however, the fibers are temporarily loosened up so as to increase the size of the interstices, the rubber solution will, by capillary attraction, find access to all parts of the fabric and cohere throughout the mass.

The second drier G contains a heating coil 21 and guide rollers 22, over which rollers, the fabric runs in proximity to the heating coil 21.

he coating machine D is provided with the usual gulde rolls 31 and a heater 32. The coating material is applied at 33. A rubber scraper 34, used as a substitute for the ordinary steel knife/or scraper, levels and The compressing machine contains two rubber coated rollers 41 (Fig. 5) that are forced toward each other by springs 42, the stiffness of which may be regulated by a handscrew 43. One of these rollers 41, is driven b a worm and gear connection 44 and a be t and pulley connection 45.

51 is a roll of unbleached muslin, which muslin is fed on to a roll 52 that receives the finished rubber filled fabric from the impregnating and coating machine. This muslin operates to keep separated the fresh surfaces of the coated fabric and thus prevents adhesion of those surfaces.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine for filling fabric with rubber, consisting of a fabric drying mechanism, an impregnating mechanism and compressing mechanism consisting of rollers havin rubber yielding (go-acting faces, sai mechanism being so geared with a driving element as to synchronize their motion'and avoid slipping or friction, and the static parts of the machine being disposed out of contact with the fabric as it passes through the mechanism.

2. A machine for filling fabric with rubber, consisting of a fabric drying mechanism, an impregnating mechanism, provided with a semi-drying device, and compressing mechanism consisting of rollers having a rubber yielding contacting surface, said mechanism being so geared with drivin elements as to synchronize their motion and avoid slipping or friction, and the static parts of the machine being disposed out of contact with the fabric as it passes through the mechanism.

3. A machine for filling fabric with rubber including in combination, a fabric heating or drying mechanism, a vat, containing drums or rollers for alternately and transversely flexing the fabric while in solution and a drying or semi-vulcanizing device.

4. A machine for filling fabric with rubber, consisting of a heating or fabric dryincdevice, a vat containing fluting rollers an pinions coiiperating witlrsaid fluting roll- .ers for flexing the fabric while submerged,

suitable drying mechanism and rubber rollers for forcing the rubber filling into the body of the fabric.

5. A machine for filling fabric with rubber, including in combination, a vat, flutin or flexing rollers within the said vat, and pinions to carry the same, a driving pinion meshing the said flexing rollers, a drier and yielding surface compresses.

6. A suitable mechanism for treating fabric with rubber, and a compressing mechanism consisting of a roller having a soft rubber or yielding surface acting upon an opposing yielding surface between which the treated fabric is passed, in order to force the unvulcanized rubber into and between the threads of the fabric, Without material distortion of the threads or fracturing the same at their points of intersection.

7 A mechanism for impregnating or coating fabric with rubber and a compressing machine including a spring pressed roller having a yielding surface that is adapted to force the rubber into and between the threads of the fabric without material distortion of said threads at their points of intersection.

8. A mechanism for impregnating or coating fabric With rubber and a compressing machine including co-acting rubber rollers having yielding rubber surfaces that are adapted to force the rubber into and between the mesh and threads of the fabric without material distortion or fracture of said threads at their points of intersection.

9. A machine for impregnating fabrics with rubber, including in combination a vat and devices for alternately and oppositely flexing the fabric while submerged, and a compressing mechanism including spring pressed rollers having ayielding rubber surface that is adapted to force the rubber into and between the mesh and threads of the fabric without material distortion of the threads thereof.

ISAAC S. MCGIEHAN.

Witnesses E. ADELMAN, S. SYROP. 

